Two more hikers injured in Acadia National Park

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — Hikers’ injuries in the park continue to keep park rangers and others busy, with rescuers handling two more incidents in Acadia on Tuesday.

One hiker, a 36-year-old woman from Atlanta, was injured around 11:30 a.m. while hiking on Acadia Mountain near where Man of War Brook drains into Somes Sound, which divides the eastern and western sides of Mount Desert Island, Ranger Ed Pontbriand said Wednesday. She fell and injured her ankle and was unable to walk on it, he said.

The park does not release the names of park visitors who are injured and receive medical attention.

The injury occurred near the end of a fire road that runs from Route 102 almost all the way to the shore, so rangers had relatively easy access in getting to her and then back to the highway. Rangers and members of Mount Desert Island Search & Rescue strapped the woman into a litter and, once they got to the fire road, placed the litter on a large wheelbarrow-like platform with a fat tire on the bottom for rolling over rough terrain.

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Pontbriand said that once they got the woman back to Route 102, they loaded her into an ambulance that took her to MDI Hospital in Bar Harbor. He said he did not know specifically what kind of injury the woman suffered or how severe it turned out to be.

About 15 minutes after that call had come in, Pontbriand added, rangers got another call about a 13-year-old boy who had injured his ankle while walking along a boardwalk along the western side of Jordan Pond. Rangers took a boat out onto the pond from a landing at the south end of the pond near the Jordan Pond House restaurant, but by the time they reached the section of path where the injury occurred, someone had carried the boy piggyback-style to the restaurant, where rangers soon caught up with him.

Pontbriand said the boy had been hiking as part of a school group and his companions helped him after he hurt his ankle. Early June, when schools are winding up their academic year, is a popular time for such groups to come to Acadia, the ranger said. A girl who was injured Friday while riding a bicycle near the Visitors’ Center in Hulls Cove was part of a different school group outing, he said.

Some visitors may be going out for their first hike of the summer season, Pontbriand said, which may mean their hiking skills and awareness are a little rusty. He stressed that all visitors to Acadia, whether part of a large group or not, should be properly prepared for their visit. Hikers should wear sturdy shoes with good ankle support and should carry water, a cellphone if possible, and extra clothing in case of an emergency that might extend their outing.

“It’s been a busy spring so far,” Pontbriand said. “The trails are still wet in some places and slippery.”

CORRECTION:

An earlier version of this story incorrectly indicated that another hiker injured Saturday on Pemetic Mountain had been hiking with a church group. She was hiking with her husband when she hurt her ankle.